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Intellect is the ability to avoid belaboring the obvious.

Alfred Bester

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Alfred Bester
Age: 73 †
Born: 1913
Born: December 18
Died: 1987
Died: September 30
Author
Journalist
Novelist
Science Fiction Writer
Screenwriter
Writer
Manhattan borough
New York City
Ability
Intellect
Avoid
Obvious

More quotes by Alfred Bester

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No matter how we defend ourselves against the outside we're always licked by something from the inside. Ther's no defense against betrayal, and we all betray ourselves.
Alfred Bester
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This was an age of extremes, a fascinating century of freaks... but nobody loved it.
Alfred Bester
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Most science fiction, quite frankly, is silly nonsense.
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That's me, he said, motioning to the robot. That's all of us. We prattle about free will, but we're nothing but response...mechanical reaction in prescribed grooves.
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Gully Foyle is my name And Terra is my nation Deep space is my dwelling place The stars my destination
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Faith in faith' he answered himself. 'It isn't necessary to have something to believe in. It's only necessary to believe that somewhere there's something worthy of belief
Alfred Bester
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If you can have everything at fifty that you wanted when you were fifteen, you're happy.
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The mind is the reality. You are what you think.
Alfred Bester
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Tenser, said the Tensor. Tension, apprehension, and dissension have begun.
Alfred Bester
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I challenge you, me. Die or live and be great.
Alfred Bester
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Damn you! Dagenham raged, Don't you realize that you can't trust people? They don't know enough for their own good. Then let them learn or die. We're all in this together. Let's live or die together.
Alfred Bester
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This was a Golden Age, a time of high adventure, rich living and hard dying... but nobody thought so. This was a future of fortune and theft, pillage and rapine, culture and vice... but nobody admitted it. This was an age of extremes, a fascinating century of freaks... but nobody loved it.
Alfred Bester
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I'm not much interested in extrapolating science and technology I merely use extrapolation as a means of putting people into new quandaries which produce colorful pressures and conflicts.
Alfred Bester
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If a man's got talent and guts to buck society, he's obviously above average. You want to hold on to him. You straighten him out and turn him into a plus value. Why throw him away? Do that enough and all you've got left are the sheep.
Alfred Bester
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It's obvious we can't all be a Gully Foyle, but most of us energize at such a low level, so far short of our real capabilities, we could all be more, do more.
Alfred Bester
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The test of intellect is the refusal to belabor the obvious.
Alfred Bester
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I've handed life and death back to the people who do the living and the dying.
Alfred Bester
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Life is a freak. That’s its hope and glory.
Alfred Bester
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Eight, sir seven, sir Six, sir five, sir Four, sir Three, sir Two, sir one! Tenser, said the Tensor. Tenser, said the Tensor. Tension, apprehension, And dissension have begun.
Alfred Bester
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We always do what's natural, only sometimes we shouldn't do it.
Alfred Bester